


July 31st

by SelenaEstella



Category: Bleach
Genre: Fluff, Humor, Light-Hearted, M/M, Minor Injuries, Minor Violence, birthday fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-03
Updated: 2017-08-03
Packaged: 2018-12-09 19:10:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11675289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SelenaEstella/pseuds/SelenaEstella
Summary: A Grimmjow birthday fic.





	July 31st

**Author's Note:**

> Happy birthday Grimmjow! I know this is a day late, but I wrote most of it while sleep-drunk and wanted to check the quality before posting. I wasn't particularly satisfied with it at first tbh. This sort of fic doesn’t come all that naturally to me. But I'm glad I wrote it and after a few nights' sleep I think I did ok ^^
> 
> Anyway!

"July 31st."

"What?"

"July 31st," said Grimmjow. "That's my birthday."

Ichigo stared at him. Grimmjow stared back, still lounging on the bed. Ichigo was waiting for a smirk or a laugh, something to say it was a joke and that Ichigo's question had been stupid, but it didn't come. Then Ichigo glanced around discretely for a calendar or something, but of course there wasn't one, he didn't keep one in his room.

"I'm serious!" Grimmjow insisted. Ichigo narrowed his eyes.

"So... you didn't just pull that date out of your ass?" he asked. Grimmjow made a frustrated sound and ran a hand through his hair.

"Don't ask me how I know but I know," he said. "July 31st."

"Huh," said Ichigo. Then he snapped upright, eyes widening. "That's in two days!"

\--

Shit.

What was he going to do?

Ichigo stopped walking and leaned back against a wall, cursing the heat. The streets were packed, everyone talking and jostling and getting in his way. Made it even harder to think.

They'd just been, well, _talking_. Ichigo couldn't remember most of the conversation, but he'd used his own birthday as an example of something, then he'd mused out loud about whether Arrancar would consider their death-day, or their last transformation as their "birthday" for a lack of a better word, and Grimmjow had dropped that bomb on him.

_What was he supposed to buy???_

He tipped his head back and gazed upwards, finding the sky between the buildings. Some sort of novelty weapon would be great, if Grimmjow was someone who'd just mount it in his house. At best he'd ask why Ichigo had bought it when Pantera was a perfectly good sword. Ichigo tried not to imagine the _other_ possible reactions. Food would be pretty safe, except Grimmjow had to be one of the _fussiest_ people Ichigo had ever met, and besides, Ichigo wanted to get something that would last longer.

He pushed off the wall and started walking again, scanning shop windows, hunting for ideas. Maybe a cool T-shirt. Grimmjow certainly valued style. Except their tastes were so different, and besides... he didn't want to get something he'd get for a friend.

Because they weren't friends, exactly.

Even if 'boyfriends' was still a new term that made Ichigo's heart thump and his cheeks flush.

 _Stationary... Tvs..._ If only Grimmjow was into anime or something... _Kids' dress-up... Jewellery... Watches..._

Ichigo stopped outside a glittering display case. Maybe a watch wasn't a bad idea, he thought almost desperately. With no visible time passing in Hueco Mundo, Grimmjow had the habit of turning up at all times of the day and night, much to Soul Society's grief. If he had one of those watches that ran by themselves--automatic? Was it?--he could at least regulate his schedule. Plus they looked cool, and hey, there was a perfect one right there. And it cost--

...

Ichigo walked away.

A really nice bottle of sake would be appreciated. They could share. Nothing strong enough to get them seriously drunk but enough for a buzz, enough to make the night just that much better. They’d meet up, have a meal, have a drink, and fall into bed. Ichigo could take everything to Las Noches to avoid dragging Grimmjow around the human world, and then they’d have the glorious privacy that only a deserted building as big as a city could give them.

Then again… maybe he should invite Grimmjow to find something with him. Surprises were nice, but he wanted to give more than a fancy dinner. Grimmjow could pick something out, and so long as it came to under 10,000 Yen Ichigo could afford it.

...A phone that could reach between dimensions would be useful too.

\--

On July 30th, 11pm, Ichigo was reading halfheartedly through his biology notes, absently tapping his lip with his pencil while his other hand propped up his chin. He couldn’t stop glancing at the time on his phone, wondering if Grimmjow was gonna show up that evening or the next, or whether he’d turn up for his birthday at all. Ichigo had a plan now, at least, but he wasn’t exactly brimming with confidence.

He was about to give up on studying, words blurring on the page, when the reishi around him began to shiver. A Garganta was forming nearby.

Ichigo--and every other spiritually aware person within three miles--tensed, waiting, to see who’d come through. Ichigo was filled with hope, but at the same time keenly aware that not everyone from Hueco Mundo was friendly.

But it was Grimmjow who stepped through. His presence was unmistakable.

Ichigo was up and at the window before his pencil hit the desk. Black robes billowing in the night wind, he leapt into the sky.

The Garganta was still open, Grimmjow standing right on the edge. That wasn’t unusual--he did it all the time when he was impatient, eager to drag Ichigo off for a fight or for sex. But something was different. As Ichigo got closer he could see that Grimmjow’s arms were crossed, and as their eyes locked Grimmjow didn’t smile.

Ichigo did the airborne equivalent of skidding to a halt, coming to a stop less than a foot away. This close, he could see scorch marks on Grimmjow’s clothes, and a deep cut on his right arm.

Ichigo reached out automatically. “What’s going on?” he asked. Grimmjow shrugged him off.

“ _Quincies_ ,” Grimmjow spat. “Trying to storm Las Noches. Not the usual small fry either.”

Ichigo frowned, fists clenching reflexively. There was deep anger in Grimmjow’s scowl, but embarrassment as well, barely visible under the surface. He would _never_ call for backup no matter how bad the situation, which meant Harribel had pulled rank on him, and dammit they were wasting time.

“Then let’s go!”

Grimmjow still looked sour. But he met Ichigo’s gaze, took in that familiar, unwavering determination, and maybe his scowl lessened just a little bit.

The slightest hesitation, and he took Ichigo’s hand.

Grimmjow led, still better with the reishi platforms than Ichigo, pulling them through at breakneck speed. In the distant a white line split the darkness, then widened into a gaping mouth, allowing cold moonlight to spill in.

Ichigo hit the sand and immediately deflected a barrage of arrows. Grimmjow had brought them right to the frontline and Ichigo spotted seven white-clad archers, five white-clad Arrancar.

Out there, in the wasteland, Ichigo didn’t have to worry about his strength. Didn’t have to worry about breaking buildings or hurting people. As Grimmjow sprinted forward, a streak of white and blue, Ichigo allowed the full force of his power to flood across the sand.

Zangetsu’s twin blades felt heavy in his hands. This fight shouldn’t be _happening_ , the war was over, and yet there Ichigo was anyway. He couldn’t blame Soul Society, he guessed. They had their own problems rebuilding after the disaster. But he couldn’t help feeling resentful, sometimes.

But at least the fight was easy…

Ichigo’s presence was enough to turn the tide. Three of the Quincies took one look at him and ran. Their leader couldn’t control his forces after that. Seemed like these guys specialised in Blut Vene--tough to hurt, harder to kill, but at least they couldn’t do some shit like steal his Bankai.

“Any idea _why_ they’re attacking?” Ichigo shouted to Grimmjow, voicing straining against the crashes and booms. They’d paired up instinctively; by then it just felt natural to have each others’ backs.

“They’re sore losers!” Grimmjow yelled back. For once he wasn’t relishing the fight, looked preoccupied and annoyed more than anything else. He hadn’t released Pantera and was only gaining injuries, arrows slicing through his forearms when he raised them to block. A vein ticked on Ichigo’s forehead as he kept looking over his shoulder. At this rate Grimmjow’s stubbornness was going to get him seriously hurt.

“Oi, Grimm--!”

The sand exploded around them.

Ichigo, still half-turning, had just enough time to share an ‘oh, shit’ look with Grimmjow before the floor vanished beneath his feet. Seemed one of their enemies had a special ability after all.  A second blast sent Ichigo flying, twisting head over heels and falling, no idea which way was up until he crashed into the ground.

Grimmjow flipped expertly in midair and landed in a crouch. Ichigo landed on his ass. He was still flailing around, spitting out sand, when he was grabbed roughly by the collar and flung to one side.

“Hey, what--?!”

An avalanche of sand followed them down the hole, effectively blocking the way out and sealing off the moon. They were left in complete darkness within the Menos Forest.

The fall had _sucked_ , but hadn’t done any damage, and neither had his impromptu collision with a wall. Ichigo dusted himself off, felt around for his swords, and crawled in the direction he thought Grimmjow was in. “You alright?” he asked.

“Of _course_ I am.” Ah, shit, Grimmjow sounded pissed. “Why couldn’t you keep your _ucking eyes_ on your opponent, stupid?!”

“Well couldn’t _you_ have avoided some of those hits, asshole??” Ichigo shot back.

Grimmjow laughed harshly. “ _This?_ ” Ichigo could only guess he was holding up his arms and gesturing. “This is _nothing_. I can hold my own!”

“I’m not saying you can’t I’m saying I don’t like seeing you hurt _because I care about you!_ ”

Ichigo heaved a frustrated sigh. He _knew_ how Grimmjow thought, _knew_ that he still saw concern as some sort of _pity_ even when it _wasn’t_ , but that didn’t make dealing with his pigheadedness any easier. It was the same reasoning that left Grimmjow hovering awkwardly whenever Ichigo got hurt, possessive urge to guard what was his battling with the need for respect.

Ichigo waited, teeth clenched, for Grimmjow to hit back, but found himself waiting in tense, uncomfortable silence instead. He didn’t know what to say.

His phone made a noise. Ichigo dug into his shihakusho until he found his human clothes underneath all the black, and fished around in his pocket. The light made him squint; even on the lowest setting the screen was blinding in the darkness, but eventually he made out what the message was saying.

“Huh,” said Ichigo, looking up. “Happy birthday, Grimmjow.”

An awkward pause.

“Well, shit, thanks,” said Grimmjow.

Ichigo turned on his phone light and let it spill into the little cavern, illuminating the stone walls and mountain of sand. “I’ll be honest,” he said flatly, “this wasn’t what I planned to do today.”

Grimmjow smirked, then laughed, and Ichigo gave in and smiled. They shared a look across the glowing light, both silently agreeing that the argument was over. Ichigo began hunting in his pockets again.

He pulled out a small wrapped package.

“Here,” he said, tossing it over. Might as well get it all done _now_ , right? Grimmjow caught the present, looking even more confused, and slowly began to unwrap it.

“I didn’t know what to get you,” Ichigo continued, trying not to watch Grimmjow intently as he opened the present. He failed. “But uh, you’re always singing that screamy American one in the shower, so I tracked down the band and got their album.” He cleared his throat. “There’s a couple more on there too, some I like. But, it’s not too late to return it, I still have the receipt so--”

“Shut up,” Grimmjow said, almost fondly. He turned the iPod over in his hands, inspecting the unfamiliar device, clicking a few buttons experimentally and unravelling the earbuds. “I have no idea how to use this,” he said.

“Yeah.” Ichigo’s heart sank. “It was a stupid idea.”

“I didn’t say that, asshole,” Grimmjow shot back. Ichigo looked up again and found Grimmjow watching him reproachfully, holding the bright blue iPod like he thought Ichigo might try to take it back. And when Grimmjow got possessive, there was nothing anyone could do.

“You... like it?”

Grimmjow rolled his eyes. “Of course I like it, idiot. It’s one of those music-player-things. They’re _cool_.”

Ichigo burst into laughter. Something about hearing Grimmjow say words like ‘cool’ would never not be funny. A pebble hit the side of his head. “Shut up!”

Ichigo reined himself in, barely. “I got sake as well,” he said, still grinning. “Not with me, though. After this we can drink it and I’ll show you how to use that.”

_And, speaking of ‘this’..._

A muffled explosion boomed above them and a few trails of sand fell down. Reluctantly, Ichigo picked up his phone and stood. He’d kind of hoped the battle would end while they were down there, to be honest.

Grimmjow tucked the iPod carefully into one of his jacket’s inside pockets. Ichigo’s thoughts must’ve shown on his face, because he received an encouraging smack on the shoulder. He didn’t smile, but he did frown a little less.

“Think we can bust through?” he asked. The ceiling looked unstable, riddled with cracks. If they waited any longer they might not have a choice.

Grimmjow drew Pantera, and shot Ichigo a grin that was downright manic. “Fuck yeah.”

\--

He’d never particularly cared about his birthday. Kind of hard to give a shit, with no calendars or even _days_ in Hueco Mundo. None in Las Noches either, though Gin might’ve made a passing jab about it once. He’d just known, in the back of his mind: July 31st. Didn’t mean all that much. He learned about the parties in the human world, where people stuck their ages on badges and lit cakes on fire, and Grimmjow hadn’t felt the urge to be part of anything like _that_.

Maybe he never _had_ celebrated, even when he was alive.

But Ichigo had made it out to be a big deal. Leaping up from his chair, demanding why Grimmjow hadn’t told him sooner, and getting that _pitying_ look Grimmjow hated so much when he’d said it wasn’t that big a deal. Except, Grimmjow reminded himself, it wasn’t pity. It was sympathy, or something like it, and he’d swallowed the instinctive pulse of anger. Ichigo had practically kicked him out after that though, insisting he’d needed to ‘get stuff ready’. Grimmjow had slunk back to Las Noches more confused than anything, and kicked a few Adjuchas troublemakers around to keep his mind off it.

Later, though, wandering around the empty halls, his thoughts had caught up with him. Two human days. 48 hours. Ichigo better not be planning a party…

He didn’t know _when_ it had started to matter, but at some point it had. It made him all the more pissed off when those Quincy bastards started to attack, because instead of a welcome distraction they were _interrupting_.

“If you want to be with Kurosaki so much, _get him_ ,” Harribel had ordered, and fuck, did it really show on his face? Did it really affect his fighting skills that much when he was… distracted like that?

Nel would call it pining.

Nel could fuck right off.

So he’d got Ichigo, they’d fought together, they’d fallen in a hole, and they’d won. Easy.

So now what?

The aftermath wasn’t that bad--no real injuries, not fatalities, and Hell even the Quincies had chosen to retreat before Grimmjow could spill any _real_ blood. Damn cowards. He waved Nel off when she tried to look at his cuts and went to grab Ichigo’s attention away from Harribel.

“Oi. We have plans or what?” Ichigo turned. Offered a tired smile.

“Sure,” he said. “We done here?”

“Of course,” said Harribel. “Your help was greatly appreciated.” Her eyes flickered between Ichigo and Grimmjow. Grimmjow resisted the urge to flip her off. He grabbed Ichigo’s wrist instead and started dragging him away amidst Nel’s cheery goodbyes.

The Garganta closed, leaving them in silence, the white light at their feet just enough for them to see each other’s faces. Grimmjow leaned forward and finally, _finally_ , caught Ichigo’s mouth in a deep, desperate kiss.

“Where do you want to go?” Ichigo said quietly, once they’d finally broken apart.

“Don’t know. Don’t care. Somewhere private.” Grimmjow bit into Ichigo’s neck, grinning at the quiet gasp of pleasure. They weren’t filled with the post-battle lust that usually followed their private spars, but that meant they could take their time.

“Sure,” Ichigo managed, hands tight on the back of Grimmjow’s jacket. “It’s about 1 in the morning. Everywhere’s pretty quiet.”

They ended up sitting on a deserted hillside on the outskirts of Karakura, trees whispering around them, water running somewhere not far off, surrounded by warm summer air. Ichigo had retrieved the bottle of sake and they passed it back and forth until they both felt light headed and pleasantly dizzy.

“What’s this one do?” Grimmjow asked, pressing a button on the human device.

“That’s shuffle,” Ichigo explained, again. “It puts the songs in a random order.”

Grimmjow pulled the screen closer to his face until he could read the words better. “Huh.”

“You’re drunk,” said Ichigo. He slumped harder into Grimmjow’s shoulder, an arm around his waist. “Happy birthday.”

“Is this what you had planned? No setting cakes on fire?” Out of everything he’d heard, that tradition sounded the most appealing.

“Not unless you want to.” Ichigo shifted, falling slowly over backwards and pulling Grimmjow down with him. “We still have tomorrow. Today. Fuck.” The moon above them was an almost perfect half-circle, small but bright.

“Are you having good time at least?” Ichigo mumbled. Grimmjow rolled over. Ichigo was watching him intently, managing to look serious even with the heavy blush on his cheeks. Grimmjow raised a hand, traced Ichigo’s jaw, his throat, the back of his neck.

“Yeah,” Grimmjow said eventually, too relaxed and tired for anything longer. Some things mattered so goddamn much to his boyfriend, things that made no sense to Grimmjow, but maybe this wasn’t one of them anymore. Ichigo hummed in agreement, already half asleep. Grimmjow got halfway through wondering if passing out was a good idea before deciding he didn’t care.

He turned the music on.

 

**Author's Note:**

> some of the songs on the iPod are of course: Bomb LA (A-Bombs)'s album "And Just Constantly Rotating"; BrEaK; Six Feelings; and Echoes
> 
> also Grimmjow sings in the shower it is totally canon


End file.
